The effects of increasing fishing pressure in combination with temperature increases in the Nordic and Barents Seas have been evaluated using an end-to-end model for the area forced by a downscaled RCP 4.5 climate scenario. The scenarios that have been applied have used four different fractions of fisheries mortality at maximum sustainable yield (Fmsy); 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.1 × Fmsy. As it is highly likely that more ecosystem components will be harvested in the future, the four scenarios have been repeated with fishing on a larger number of ecosystem components, including harvesting of lower trophic levels (mesozooplankton and mesopelagic fish). The zooplankton biomass had an increasing trend, regardless of the increase in fishing pressure on their predators. However, when introducing harvest on the lower trophic levels, this increase was no longer evident.
Eide CH, Nash R, Drinkwater K, Hjøllo SS. Management scenarios under climate change-a study of the Nordic and Barents Seas. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2019;6:668.
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